I decided to deviate from my original plan of creating a neighborhood portrait of the (Jewish) Lower East Side because I felt I had become too familiar with the territory and its history. It dawned on me that I knew more about a neighborhood I only visited a few times than my own. When Professor William Helmreich said, “You don’t know your neighborhood as well as you think you do” because you develop patterns of walking, I realized that I did not know my neighborhood at all. Because I live on the border of Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge and take the train on Borough Park, I have even more unexplored territory to uncover. Therefore, I decided to create a neighborhood portrait of Bay Ridge.
“To walk a city is not to run a city,” Mr. Helmreich said during his lecture. I realized that I had been running through New York this whole time. I quickly embraced the fast-paced New York City lifestyle and lost sight of the beautiful, culturally rich details that make each neighborhood unique. If I saw a woman sitting on her stoop, the most I would do is smile and hurriedly walk to my destination. If I saw a young man wearing a t-shirt that displayed the title of my favorite television show, I would not even consider approaching him and starting a conversation. If I saw an Asian man in his thirties dressed in a business suit, I would not dare ask him where he was going or what his occupation was. Yet, because of this project, I did just that. I learned to step outside of my comfort zone and submerge myself into Arabic/Muslim culture, learn about my neighbors (even if they are a few miles away), and explore semi-familiar territory in a new light.
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“Bay Ridge is Brooklyn’s hidden gem,” Diane enthusiastically says while sitting on her stoop on a hazy spring afternoon. Not even the foggy, cold weather could dampen her passion for her beloved neighborhood. Diane, a proud Brooklynite, has been living in the largely middle-class, southwest area of Brooklyn for over fifty years. While she celebrates her birthday with her beloved family each year, she also commemorates another wonderful year spent in her favorite neighborhood. “My family moved around quite a lot when I was younger, but I always called Bay Ridge my home. It’s filled with familiar faces and love. That is more than I can ask for,” Diane joyfully recounts. She is one of roughly 59,265 Bay Ridge residents in a family household—living with her husband of over forty years in a two-story house on 82nd Street (2010 NYC Census).
Among the 57.5% of senior citizens living in the neighborhood, Diane notes that over the past twenty years, there have been plenty of fresh faces moving in. Slowly, young families and hopeful entrepreneurs are starting to see the beauty and convenience of living in Bay Ridge. “I have noticed a growing trend of expanding Middle Eastern restaurants and businesses—especially in 5th Avenue,” the Bay Ridge veteran notes. Although the majority of residents are Caucasian, as accounted in the 2010 New York City Census, Asians are the second largest minority group—comprising of 13.3% of the neighborhood population. The largest minority group—Hispanic origin—account for 15.9%.
Ellen Freudenheim, in “Muslim Immigrant Communities in Brooklyn: From Egypt to Pakistan” corroborates Diane’s observations by noting not only an influx of Middle Eastern immigrants, but specifically Muslim immigrants since the 1990s. “This once largely Irish neighborhood [Bay Ridge] now has mosques, halal butcher shops, halal restaurants, and Muslim educational institutions,” Freudenheim reports. Perhaps Bay Ridge should be named “The melting pot of Brooklyn.” With at least seven churches, three synagogues, and two temples, Bay Ridge represents a community living in spiritual and cultural harmony.
The Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, located at 6807 5th Avenue, is a safe haven and place of education and worship for many Muslim residents in what some have coined the “Borough of Churches.” (This one of Brooklyn’s many nicknames inspired Tom Seghini’s The Borough of Churches: A Novel About Brooklyn in the 1970s.) Right near the mosque and in front of the Alpine Cinemas stands a young Middle Eastern man with short, black hair, wearing a ‘24’ T-shirt. Considering ‘24’ was my favorite television show, I think initiating a conversation about it would be a good segue to learning about how he came to live in Bay Ridge.
After I boldly approach him and spark a conversation, I discover that Yousef is a native of Morocco and moved to the United States fifteen years ago. I tell him that I will be visiting Morocco in November with my “Jews of Morocco” class and ask him more about how he came to Bay Ridge. Although he was born in Fes, Morocco and seems interested in my trip, he is unable to tell me more about his birth country. After he moved to New York with his family, he never went back to visit Fes and only vaguely remembers it. Although he has lost ties to the location of his birth, he hasn’t lost touch with his culture and religion.
Similar to Diane, when I ask Yousef where he considers his home to be, he says “Bay Ridge”—not Brooklyn. When I ask him why he specifically said ‘Bay Ridge’ and not ‘Brooklyn’ or ‘New York’, he replies, “My brothers are here—right in this mosque.”
I was taken aback by his beautifully articulated words. As he pointed to the mosque, I understood that this neighborhood meant more to him than statistics and demographics. Yousef found a loving, tight-knit community that made him feel comfortable and accepted. “The population — from Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Morocco and elsewhere — has mostly settled in an area bounded by 65th and 77th Streets to the north and south, and Seventh Avenue and Colonial Road to the west and east,” Kirk Semple of the New York Times notes. United by culture, ethnicity, and religion, these individuals have formed their Arabic, Middle Eastern, and/or Muslim identity in the upper portion of Bay Ridge.
As I pass by the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, I smell shawarma and lamb soup from several Middle Eastern restaurants such as Yemen Café and Sally’s & George’s Restaurant. I see hookah lounges and tobacco shops, along with convenience stores with Arabic-speaking customers. Middle Eastern women are running ethnic clothing stores—selling decorative dresses and headscarves. Such surroundings and familiar faces make Bay Ridge residents like Yousef feel “at home.”
Despite the ethnic enclaves, ‘mom and pop’ shops, and close-knit communities, Bay Ridge is slowly succumbing to gentrification. “The median price-per-square-foot of new development in Bay Ridge jumped 7.4 percent over the past year, to $558 from $517, with the median home price jumping 14.5 percent to $655,498 from $560,037…” Amy Zimmer of DNAinfo New York reports. With the soaring housing costs, it is not surprising that chain-restaurants and big businesses are moving in. 86th Street has been home to several large businesses, such as McDonalds, Century21, Starbucks and Payless Shoe Source. Over the past few years, TJMaxx has joined the corporate take-over, as well as the recent grand opening of a Wendy’s fast-food restaurant. In the past month, Thor Equities announced that Chipotle, the restaurant chain, would open its newest restaurant at 463 86th Street in Bay Ridge (Real Estate Weekly).
Although Bay Ridge is not becoming the “new Williamsburg” just yet, its gentrification is attracting a younger, wealthier crowd. A young gentleman in his early thirties, William, and his fiancée are the perfect representation of this new demographic. As an attorney for a well-respected law firm in Midtown Manhattan, William recently moved to Bay Ridge in hopes of starting a family with his soon-to-be wife. Although money is not an overly significant issue in choosing a place of residence, the comparatively less expensive housing in Bay Ridge is a definite bonus. The neighborhood has a good balance of affordability, nightlife, and education for a young upper-middle class couple.
William was attracted to Brooklyn’s “more laid back” nature—in comparison to Manhattan. “There’s more room to breathe and relax from the stress of the cut-throat corporate world,” William claims, “it takes a toll on you after a few years.”
Bay Ridge is especially appealing to young couples due to its dining and nightlife. Along 3rd, 4th, and 5th Avenue, there are numerous restaurants, coffee shops, bars, lounges, and dance clubs. With seven public schools and approximately eleven private schools in the area, the neighborhood makes finding a good school in the area much easier. With nine parks in close proximity, leisure activities and family outings become more convenient to host and attend. When considering what neighborhood to settle down in, couples like to William and his fiancée take similar factors into account.
While Bay Ridge is still accommodating to individuals who have lived in the neighborhood for an extended period of time, it is still welcoming to ethnic-based communities, and inviting to new, prospective residents.
Works Cited:
- Freudenheim, Ellen. “Muslim Immigrant Communities in Brooklyn: From Egypt to Pakistan” About.com
<http://brooklyn.about.com/od/brooklynneighborhoods/a/Muslim-Communities-In-Brooklyn.htm>
- Real Estate Weekly. “Chipotle to Open in Bay Ridge.” April 28, 2014.
<http://www.rew-online.com/2014/04/28/chipotle-to-open-in-bay-ridge/>
- Seghini, Tom. The Borough of Churches: A Novel About Brooklyn in the 1970s. 2011.
- Semple, Kirk. “Take the A Train to Little Guyana.” June 8, 2013. The New York Times.
- United States Census Bureau. 2010 New York City Census
- Zimmer, Amy. “Is Bay Ridge Poised to Become the New Williamsburg?” DNAinfo New York. April 17, 2014.
<http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20140417/bay-ridge/is-bay-ridge-poised-become-new-williamsburg#>
